The present invention relates to telephone answering message systems, and in particular to message systems of the type that include digital data processors for recording and playback of telephonic messages.
The latter half of the twentieth century has been witness to a phenomenon known as the information revolution. While the information revolution is often associated with general purpose digital computers, digital data processing technology has been incorporated into an ever increasing variety of applications, including automobiles, home appliances, medical devices, security devices, etc. The list is almost endless.
One application for digital technology is in telephone answering message systems. A conventional telephone message system typically contains a telephonic interface and a data storage for storing multiple audible messages. The telephonic interface listens on the telephone line for an incoming call. If the call is not intercepted by a user (call recipient) after a predetermined time, the answering machine takes over the line and plays a pre-recorded message to the caller. The caller is then allowed to record a spoken message for the call recipient on the answering machine. Various function buttons or switches permit the call recipient (user) to retrieve (play back) or delete the message at a later time. Such a message system is often a self-contained device which attaches to a single telephone line, but it may also be a larger device such as a computer, which services multiple telephone lines and stores messages for multiple users, each of whom accesses the messages by using appropriate buttons on a local telephone receiver.
Many individuals receive a large number of such messages on their telephone message systems. The number of messages to deal with can be particularly large if the user has been away from the system (e.g., on vacation or out of town on business) for any length of time. It can be inconvenient for a user to wade through a large number of messages.
Many answering machines offer the user the capability to access the machine remotely to hear messages. As useful as this capability is, it offers only limited alleviation of the problem. Remote access may be difficult or impossible due to the user""s schedule or other factors. Remote access may be expensive; often it will only be possible from a hotel room at the end of the day, where phone charges are very high. But even without these problems, the user must still listen in sequence to a lot of messages, and make mental connections between some messages which are out of sequence.
Older self-contained answering machines were basically tape recorders with a few switches for telephonic interface. Most modem self-contained message systems use semiconductor memory for message storage, and have on-board digital processors which may support a variety of functions. Such machines are, in fact, small, limited-function computers. Yet even modem message systems have tended to mimic the capabilities of their older, tape recorder based counterparts, making limited use of digital technology. An unappreciated need exists to provide improved function in telephone message systems, and in particular, to enhance the capability of the user to manage multiple stored messages.
A telephone answering message system identifies a caller with an incoming message. Messages are sorted electronically according to caller identifying information. A user may listen to messages in the sorted order, rather than in a time sequential order.
In the preferred embodiment, messages are grouped according to the caller""s telephone number. I.e., multiple messages from the same telephone number are grouped together for playback. The message system may optionally identify a caller using voice recognition technology, or a combination of voice recognition technology and calling number. Thus, when a user plays back a large number of messages, all messages from the same telephone number or person will be grouped together, making it easier to follow a chain of messages.
The user may optionally prioritize message groupings. Specifically, the user may define certain calling numbers or voices as having a higher priority for response. During playback, messages in such groupings are played back first, in the order of established priority. Alternatively, the system may automatically assign a priority based on frequency of calling and/or receiving calls from a particular number.
A message for which no priority has been set, or which originates from a telephone number which has blocked its caller ID function, will typically be assigned a low priority, and will be played back last. Often, such calls originate from telemarketers.
Additional features provided include the ability to delete an entire group of messages or a single message within a group, to skip over one message or an entire group of messages, or to select a particular ID (telephone number) and play all the messages associated with that number.
A telephone answering machine as described herein thus provides improved capability to manage multiple telephone messages. The ability to prioritize messages can be particularly important when retrieving messages remotely, thus allowing the user to abort the remote call after listening to the most important messages, saving time and money for the user.
The details of the present invention, both as to its structure and operation, can best be understood in reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals refer to like parts, and in which: